Jesse Owens – Page 2 – The CamaraIfe Maktaba

April 2, 2014April 2, 2014 KRLemmons African American History

March 31 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – March 31 *

1850 – The Massachusetts Supreme Court rejects the argument of
Charles Sumner in the Boston school integration suit and
established the “separate but equal” precedent.

1853 – At concert singer Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield’s New York
debut in Metropolitan Hall, African Americans are not
allowed to attend. Angered and embarrassed at the exclusion
of her race, Greenfield will perform in a separate concert
at the Broadway Tabernacle for five African American
congregations.

1871 – John Arthur “Jack” Johnson is born in Galveston, Texas. He
will become a professional boxer and will become the first
African American to be crowned world heavyweight boxing
champion. His championship reign will last from 1908 to 1915.
He will join the ancestors on June 10, 1946 after succumbing
to injuries from an automobile accident. He will be inducted
into the Boxing Hall of Fame in 1954, and is on the roster of
both the International Boxing Hall of Fame and the World
Boxing Hall of Fame. In 2005, the United States National Film
Preservation Board deemed the film of the 1910 Johnson-
Jeffries fight “historically significant” and will place it
in the National Film Registry.

1930 – President Hoover nominates Judge John J. Parker of North
Carolina for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. The NAACP
launches a national campaign against the appointment. Parker
is not confirmed by the Senate.

1948 – A. Phillip Randolph tells the Senate Armed Services Committee
that unless segregation and discrimination were banned in
draft programs he would urge African American youths to
resist induction by civil disobedience.

1949 – William Grant Still’s opera, “Troubled Island” receives its
world premiere at the New York City Opera. In addition to
marking Robert McFerrin’s debut as the first African American
male to sing with the company, the opera is the first ever
written by an African American to be produced by a major
opera company.

1967 – Jimi Hendrix begins the tradition of burning his guitar in
London, England.

1968 – The provisional government of the Republic of New Africa is
founded in Detroit, Michigan.

1973 – Ken Norton defeats Muhammad Ali in a 12 round split decision
in San Diego, California. Norton will break Ali’s jaw
during the bout.

1980 – Jesse Owens joins the ancestors in Tucson, Arizona at the age
of 66, and President Jimmy Carter adds his voice to the
tributes that pour in from around the world. Jesse won four
gold medals in track at the Berlin Olympics in 1936.

1980 – Larry Holmes wins the vacant world heavyweight title by
knocking out Leroy Jones in the eighth round.

1988 – Toni Morrison wins the Pulitzer Prize for “Beloved,” a
powerful novel of a runaway slave who murders her daughter
rather than see her raised in slavery.

1995 – President Bill Clinton briefly visits Haiti, where he
declares the U.S. mission to restore democracy there a
“remarkable success.”

1999 – Four New York City police officers are charged with murder
for killing Amadou Diallo, an unarmed African immigrant, in
a hail of bullets. They shot at him 41 times, hitting him
with 19 shots. The officers will later be acquitted of all
charges, even involuntary manslaughter.

Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Rene’ A. Perry.

August 12, 2013 KRLemmons African American History

August 9 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – August 9 *

1848 – The Free Soil party is organized at a Buffalo, New York
convention attended by African American abolitionists.

1898 – Robert Nelson Cornelius Nix, Sr. is born in Orangeburg,
South Carolina. An 11-term congressman, he will be the
first African American congressional representative
from Pennsylvania, when he is elected in 1958. He will
join only three other African Americans in Congress,
William Dawson of Illinois, and Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.
of New York and Charles Diggs, Jr. of Michigan. He will
join the ancestors on June 22, 1987.

1909 – George William Crockett, Jr., is born in Jacksonville,
Florida. He will become the first African American lawyer
with the U.S. Department of Labor. Crockett will begin
his judicial career in Michigan in 1966, when he is
elected to the Recorder’s Court, a post he will hold until
1978. He will also serve as a visiting judge in the
Michigan Court of Appeals and acting corporation counsel
for the city of Detroit. He will become a congressman in
1980 at the age of 71 and will be re-elected to serve each
succeeding term until his retirement in 1991. He will join
the ancestors on September 7, 1997.

1936 – Jesse Owens wins his fourth gold medal of the 1936 Berlin
Olympic Games in the 4×100-meter relay. His relay team set
a new world record of 39.8 seconds, which held for 20 years.
In their strong showing in track-and-field events at the
XIth Olympiad, Jesse Owens and other African American
athletes struck a propaganda blow against Nazi leader Adolf
Hitler, who planned to use the Berlin Games as a showcase
of supposed Aryan superiority.

1943 – Kenneth Howard Norton is born in Jacksonville, Illinois. He
will become a professional boxer. In 1973, he will fight
Muhammad Ali. He will break Ali’s jaw and go on to win by
a split decision. His victory over Ali will make him the
NABF Heavyweight Champion and it will be the second defeat
for “The Greatest” in his career. He will also win the WBC
heavyweight championship in 1978.

1955 – Douglas Lee Williams is born in Zachary, Louisiana. He will
become a NFL Quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and
Washington Redskins. While playing for the Redskins, he
will lead the team to a victory in Superbowl XXII and will
be named Most Valuable Player.

1960 – A racially motivated disturbance breaks out in Jacksonville,
Florida after ten days of sit-in demonstrations, resulting
in fifty persons injured.

1961 – James B. Parsons becomes the first African American
appointed to the U.S. District Court.

1963 – Whitney Elizabeth Houston is born in Newark, New Jersey. She
will achieve fame as a single artist with her 1985 debut
album, which will sell over nine million copies, have three
number-one singles and earn a Grammy for the song “Saving All
My Love For You.” In 2009, the Guinness World Records will
cite her as the most awarded female act of all time. She will
become one of the world’s best-selling music artists, selling
over 200 million records worldwide. She will release six
studio albums, one holiday album and three movie soundtrack
albums, all of which will achieve iamond, multi-platinum,
platinum or gold certification. Her crossover appeal on the
popular music charts, as well as her prominence on MTV,
starting with her video for “How Will I Know”, will influence
several African American female artists to follow in her
footsteps. She will be the only artist to chart seven
consecutive No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hits. She will be the
second artist behind Elton John and the only female artist to
have two number-one Billboard 200 Album awards on the
Billboard magazine year-end charts. Her 1985 debut album
“Whitney Houston” will become the best-selling debut album by
a female act at the time of its release. The album will be
named Rolling Stone’s best album of 1986, and be ranked at
number 254 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums
of All Time. Her second studio album “Whitney” (1987) will
become the first album by a female artist to debut at number
one on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Her first acting role
will be as the star of the feature film “The Bodyguard” (1992).
The film’s original soundtrack will win the 1994 Grammy Award
for Album of the Year. Its lead single “I Will Always Love
You”, will become the best-selling single by a female artist
in music history. With that album, she will become the first
act (solo or group, male or female) to sell more than a million
copies of an album within a single week period under the
Nielsen SoundScan system. The album will make her the top
female act in the top 10 list of the best-selling albums of all
time, at number four. She will continue to star in movies and
contribute to their soundtracks, including the films “Waiting
to Exhale” (1995) and “The Preacher’s Wife” (1996). “The
Preacher’s Wife” soundtrack will become the best-selling gospel
album in history. In September 2011, The Hollywood Reporter
will announce that she will produce and star alongside Jordin
Sparks and Mike Epps in the remake of the 1976 film “Sparkle.”
In the film, she will portray Sparks’ “not-so encouraging
mother.” She will also be credited as an executive producer of
the film. On February 11, 2012, she will join the ancestors
after being found transitioned in her guest room at The Beverly
Hilton, in Beverly Hills, California. The official coroner’s
report will show that she had accidentally drowned in the
bathtub, with heart disease and cocaine use listed as
contributing factors. News of her transition will coincide with
the 2012 Grammy Awards and feature prominently in American and
international media. The movie “Sparkle,” will be released on
August 17, 2012 in the United States.

1967 – Deion Luwynn Sanders is born in Fort Myers, Florida. He will
attend Florida State University, where he will excel at both
football and baseball. After college, he will become a
National Football League cornerback and Major League baseball
outfielder. He will become a NFL All-Pro, and as a major
league center fielder, will lead both leagues in triples in
1992. He will be considered one of the most versatile
athletes in sporting history because he will play two sports
at multiple positions. In the NFL, he will play primarily at
cornerback, but also occasionally as a wide receiver, kick
returner, and punt returner. He will play for the Atlanta
Falcons, the San Francisco 49ers, the Dallas Cowboys, the
Washington Redskins, and the Baltimore Ravens, winning the
Super Bowl with both the 49ers and the Cowboys. In baseball,
he will play for the New York Yankees, the Atlanta Braves, the
Cincinnati Reds, and the San Francisco Giants. After his
playing days were over, he will become a NFL network analyst.
He will be inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton,
Ohio on August 6, 2011.

1971 – Le Roy (Satchel) Paige is inducted into the Baseball Hall of
Fame.

1984 – British decathlete Daley Thompson becomes the second man in
history to win the decathlon back-to-back in the Olympic
Games, while setting the record of 8,847 points.

1987 – Beatrice Foods, International is sold to TLC Group, a New York
investment firm led by Reginald Lewis, an African American
businessman and entrepreneur. It is the largest business
acquisition ever by an African American.

1987 – “Mean” Joe Greene and Gene Upshaw are inducted into the
Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

2003 – Gregory Hines, tap dancing virtuoso, joins the ancestors at
the age of 57 after succumbing to liver cancer. He
appeared on television, Broadway and in films.

Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Rene’ A. Perry.

August 5, 2013 KRLemmons African American History

August 5 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – August 5 *

1763 – William Richmond is born in Cuckold’s Town, near,
Richmond, Virginia. He will relocate to Staten Island,
New York, where will he will become a freedman and the
first black professional boxer from America. He will
work as a shipyard laborer and be noticed by a British
commander named Hugh Percy on the docks having a fight
with a dock sailor. Percy convinced Richmond’s parents
to let him travel to England where he could establish a
better life. He will become a cabinetmaker, and learned
boxing for self-defense. Known as “Black Terror,” he will
knock out his first Englishman in just 25 seconds. By
1800, he will become a recognized semi-professional
boxer. After enough wins, he will be booked to fight the
English champion Tom Cribb. The Richmond/Cribb fight will
bring in thousands of English fans, including dukes and
nobles. The hype of the fight on October 8, 1805 will be
immediately publicized as Cribb and Richmond (The Black).
He will be 41 at the time, lose his fight to Cribb, and
“the crowd was pleased that a Black man had been put in
his place.” One of the first African Americans to attempt
winning a title in any sport, he will continue boxing
until he was 52. He will join the ancestors on Dec. 28,
1829.

1864 – John Lawson, an African American gunner on the flagship of
Admiral David Farragut, exhibits marked courage in the
Battle of Mobile Bay and wins the Congressional Medal of
Honor.

1865 – President Andrew Johnson moves to reverse the policy of
distributing abandoned land to freedmen.

1892 – Harriet Tubman receives a pension from Congress for her
work as a nurse, spy, and scout during the Civil War.
She, along with Sojourner Truth, Susie King and almost
200 other African American women, served as nurses during
the war at 11 hospitals in three states.

1900 – James Augustine Healy, the first African American Roman
Catholic bishop, joins the ancestors in Portland, Maine.
He is the brother of Patrick Francis Healy, the first
African American to receive a Ph.D. and first African
American president of a predominantly white university
(Georgetown University).

1936 – Jesse Owens wins his third gold medal by running a 200-
meter race in 20.7 seconds at the Olympic Games held in
Berlin, Germany.

1938 – James Hal Cone is born in Fordyce, Arkansas. He will
become a theologian, best known for his advocacy of Black
liberation theology. His 1969 book “Black Theology and
Black Power” provides a new way to articulate the
distinctiveness of theology in the black Church. His work
will become influential from the time of the book’s
publication and remain influential today. His work has
been both utilized and critiqued inside and outside of the
African American theological community. He will become the
Charles Augustus Briggs “Distinguished Professor of
Systematic Theology” at Union Theological Seminary in the
City of New York and is currently in that position, at this
time.

1945 – Jeannette (Ja’net) DuBois born in Brooklyn, New York. She
will become an actress and singer. In the late 1960’s, she
will perform in the original Broadway production of “Golden
Boy” with Sammy Davis, Jr. and Lou Gossett. This will be
her introduction to live theatre. She will go on to appear
in some of the biggest shows on Broadway, including “A
Raisin in the Sun” and “Nobody Loves An Albatross.” A role
on the soap opera, “Love of Life”, will give her
recognition as the first black female to regularly appear
on a serial. A pivotal point in her career will occur when
she relocates to the West Coast. During a performance of
“Hot L. Baltimore” in Los Angeles, she will capture the
attention of Norman Lear, creator of “Good Times.” She and
Lear will develop the vivacious and independent “Willona,”
for the popular sitcom, which will air on CBS from 1971 to
1979. She will usually find herself playing roles which
make her seem much older than she her actual age. For
example, when “Good Times” premiered in 1974, she was a
few years older than Jimmie Walker, while the show made
her out to be much closer in age to Esther Rolle, who was
53 at the time. In 1970, she will play the part of a
quarrelsome laundress alongside Carrie Snodgrass in the
cult classic, “Diary of a Mad Housewife”. She will co-star
in the movie “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka” and the sitcoms
“Moesha” and “The Steve Harvey Show.” She will play the
grandmother on the hit show, “The Wayans Bros.”. She will
appear in the 2003 movie “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle.”
Among her other credits, she will appear in the 1969 made-
for-TV holiday film “J.T.”. She will also appear in former
“Good Times” co-star Janet Jackson’s “Control” music video
as her mother. She will also appear in “Love of Life”
between 1970-1972 as Loretta Allen, years prior to
starring in “Good Times.” She will win an CableACE Award
for her work on the TV movie “Other Women’s Children”,
based on the novel by Perri Klass, and she will also win
two Emmy Awards for her voiceover work on the animated
program “The PJs.”

1962 – Nelson Mandela is charged with incitement and illegally
leaving South Africa.

1962 – Patrick Aloysius Ewing is born in Kingston, Jamaica. He
will star in cricket and soccer. He will be 13 years old
when he arrives in the United States with his family,
settling in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he will learn
to play basketball at Cambridge Rindge and Latin, a public
high school. He will attend Georgetown University in
Washington, DC. In the 1984 season, he and Georgetown will
win the NCAA title with an 84-75 win over the University of
Houston. He will be one of the best college basketball
players of his era, as Georgetown will reach the
championship game of the NCAA tournament three out of four
years. He will be a first team All-American in 1983, 1984,
and 1985. Although injuries will mar his first year in the
NBA, he will be named NBA Rookie of the Year, averaging 20
points, 9 rebounds, and 2 blocks per game. Soon after he
will be considered one of the premier centers in the
league. He will enjoy a successful career, eleven times
named a NBA All-Star, an All-NBA First Team selection once,
a member of the All-NBA Second Team six times and the NBA
All-Defensive Second Team three times. He will be a member
of the original Dream Team at the 1992 Olympic Games,
winning a second gold medal. In 1996, he will also be given
the honor of being named one of the 50 greatest players in
NBA history. While he will enjoy a stellar career in the
NBA, he will never win a title as a professional.

1966 – Martin Luther King, Jr. is stoned by hecklers during a
Chicago, Illinois civil rights march.

1968 – Senator Edward Brooke is named the temporary chairman of
the Republican National Convention in Miami, Florida.

1984 – Track and field stars Evelyn Ashford and Edwin Moses win
Gold medals in the Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles,
California.

1992 – Federal civil rights charges are filed against four Los
Angeles police officers acquitted of state charges in the
videotaped beating of Rodney King. Two of the officers
will be convicted later of federal charges of violating
King’s civil rights.

Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Rene’ A. Perry.

August 4, 2013 KRLemmons African American History

August 4 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – August 4 *

1810 – Robert Purvis is born in Charleston, South Carolina to a
wealthy white cotton merchant father, William Purvis and
a mulatto mother, Harriet Judah. After graduating from
Amherst College in Massachusetts, he will move to
Pennsylvania. In 1833, he will help William Lloyd
Garrison establish the American Anti-Slavery Society,
sign its Declaration of Sentiments and will be on the
first board of managers. In the same year, he will help
establish the Library Company of Colored People. In 1838,
he will draft “Appeal of Forty Thousand Citizens
Threatened with Disfranchisement,” which supports the
repeal of a new state statute barring African Americans
from voting. As a supporter of the Underground Railroad,
he will serve as chairman of the General Vigilance
Committee from 1852 until 1857. According to records that
he will keep, from 1831 until 1861, he estimates that he
helped one slave achieve freedom per day. According to
these figures, he helped 9,000 slaves achieve freedom.
He will join the ancestors on April 15, 1898.

1870 – White conservatives suppress the African American vote and
capture the Tennessee legislature in an election marred
by assassinations and widespread violence. The campaign
effectively ends Radical Reconstruction in North Carolina.
The conservative legislature will impeach Governor Holden
on December 14.

1875 – The Convention of Colored Newspapermen is held in
Cincinnati, Ohio. The meeting is attended by J. Sella
Martin of the “True Republican”, Mifflin W. Gibbs, former
publisher of California’s “Mirror of the Times”
representing the “Pacific Appeal”, Henry McNeal Turner of
Philadelphia’s “Christian Recorder”, the San Francisco
“Elevator’s” L. H. Douglass, and Henry Scroggins of the
“American Citizen” (Lexington, Kentucky). Chairman P.B.S.
Pinchback states the aim of the national organization: “to
make colored people’s newspapers self-sustaining.” At the
time of the convention, Martin’s “New Era” and Frederick
Douglass’ “North Star” are among eight African American
newspaper failures.

1885 – W.C. Carter invents the umbrella stand.

1890 – Sam T. Jack’s play “Creoles” opens in Haverhill,
Massachusetts. It is the first time African American women
are featured as performers on the stage.

1891 – George Washington Williams joins the ancestors in Blackpool,
England at the age of 41. He was the first major African
American historian and published his major work, “History
of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880” in 1883.

1896 – W.S. Grant patents a curtain rod support.

1897 – Henry Rucker is appointed collector of Internal Revenue for
Georgia.

1901 – Daniel Louis Armstrong is born in New Orleans, Louisiana.
He will become a jazz musician specializing in the cornet
and trumpet. He will win a Grammy Award for his rendition
of “Hello, Dolly!” in 1964. He will be awarded the
Lifetime Achievement Award in 1971. Some of his other hits
will be “It’s a Wonderful World,” “Mack the Knife,” and
“Blueberry Hill.” He will also be featured in films: “The
Five Pennies,” “The Glenn Miller Story,” “Hello Dolly!,”
and “High Society.” He will be referred to as the American
ambassador of good will and will be inducted into the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. Throughout his life, he will
resent the nickname “Satchmo”, short for satchel mouth. He
will join the ancestors on July 6, 1971.

1916 – The United States purchases the Danish Virgin Islands for
$25 million.

1931 – Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, heart surgeon, founder of
Chicago’s Provident Hospital, joins the ancestors.

1936 – “Long” John Woodruff, of the University of Pittsburgh, wins
a gold medal in the 800-meter run at the Olympic Summer
Games in Berlin, Germany. He, like Jesse Owens (who had won
his second medal earlier in the day), will be snubbed by
Adolph Hitler, who believes that blacks are incapable of
athletic achievement.

1936 – Jesse Owens sets a new Olympic running broad jump record by
leaping 26′ 5 5/16″.

1953 – The movement of African American families into the Trumbull
Park housing project in Chicago, Illinois, triggers
virtually continuous riot conditions which will last more
than three years and require the assignment of more than
one thousand policemen to keep order.

1962 – Nelson Mandela is captured and jailed by South African
police.

1964 – James E. Chaney and two other civil rights workers’ bodies
are found in an earthen dam on a farm in Philadelphia,
Mississippi. They had been missing since June 21. The FBI
says that they had been murdered on the night of their
disappearance by segregationists. Eighteen whites,
including several police officers, were charged with
conspiracy to deprive the victims of their civil rights.

1969 – Willie Stargell is the first to hit a home run out of Dodger
Stadium.

1980 – Maury Wills is named manager of the Seattle Mariners. He is
the third African American to be named a major league
manager.

1985 – California Angel Rod Carew gets his 3,000th base hit.

1996 – On the final day of the Atlanta Olympics, Josia Thugwane
became the first Black South African to win a gold medal as
he finished first in the marathon.

Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Rene’ A. Perry.

July 6, 2013 KRLemmons African American History

July 6 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – July 6 *

1853 – A National Black convention meets in Rochester, New York,
with 140 delegates from nine states. James W.C.
Pennington of New York is elected president of this
meeting, generally considered the largest and most
representative of the early African American conventions.

1853 – William Wells Brown publishes “Clotel,” the first novel by
an African American.

1854 – The Republican Party is organized to oppose the extension
of slavery.

1864 – John Wesley Gilbert is born in Hepzibah, Georgia to a slave
family. He will attend Paine College and will later earn
B.A. (1888) and M.A. (1891) degrees in Greek at Brown
University. He will be the first African American to
receive a graduate degree from Brown University. While
working on his Masters degree, he will be awarded a
fellowship to attend the American School of Classical
Studies in Athens, Greece in 1890, the first person of
African descent to do so, and will help to draw a map of
Eretria (American Journal of Archaeology, 1891). He will
teach Greek at Paine College in Augusta, Georgia until
he joins the ancestors on November 19, 1923.

1868 – Eighty-five African Americans and 70 white representatives
meet in Columbia, South Carolina, at the opening of the
state’s General Assembly. It is the first and last U.S.
legislature with an African American majority.

1869 – African American candidate for Lt. Governor of Virginia,
Dr. J.H. Harris, is defeated by a vote of 120,068 to
99,600.

1930 – Donald McKayle is born in the village of Harlem in New York
City. McKayle will make his debut, at 22, in “Her Name was
Harriet” (a dance tribute to Harriet Tubman) and go on to
dance in or choreograph “House of Flowers”, “The Bill Cosby
Special” (1968), the 1970 Academy Awards, the movie version
of “The Great White Hope,” and “Sophisticated Ladies” on
Broadway. Named one of “America’s Irreplaceable Dance
Treasures” by the Library of Congress and the Dance Heritage
Coalition, McKayle made his professional debut in 1948 with
New York’s New Dance Company and later performed in the
companies of Sophie Maslow, Jean Erdman, Martha Graham,
Merce Cunningham and Anna Sokolow. In addition to “West Side
Story,” McKayle appeared in Broadway productions of “Bless
You All” (1950), “House of Flowers” (1954) and “Copper and
Brass” (1957). McKayle has choreographed more than 50 works
for companies in the United States, Europe, Israel and South
America. Early pieces include the classic “Games” (1950),
which examines the dangers faced by urban schoolchildren, as
well as the popular “Rainbow ÔRound My Shoulder” (1959) and
“District Storyville” (1962), which remain in the repertory
of the Alvin Ailey Company. Following a stint as artistic
director for the Inner City Repertory Dance Company of Los
Angeles, McKayle returned to Broadway, directing “Raisin”
(1974), “Dr. Jazz” (1975) and “Sophisticated Ladies” (1981),
the latter based on the life of Duke Ellington. Other
theatrical works include “N’Orleans” (1981), a musical play
co-written with Toni Morrison and Dorothea Freitag, “Emperor
Jones” (1984) and “Stardust” (1990). Beginning in the
mid-1960s, McKayle began to choreograph dance sequences for
film and television. Credits include “The Bill Cosby
Special” (CBS, 1967), “The Motown Special” (NBC, 1968), The
Great White Hope” (1969), “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” (1970),
“The 49th Annual Academy Awards” (ABC, 1977) and “The Jazz
Singer” (1980), among others. He directed the first few
episodes of “Good Times” in 1974. McKayle’s numerous honors
include five Tony Award nominations; the NAACP Image Award
(for “Sophisticated Ladies”); an Emmy Award nomination; the
Samuel H. Scripps/American Dance Festival Award; the Capezio
Award; the Heritage Award; the Living Legend Award and
the Outer Critics Circle Award. McKayle currently serves as
professor of dance at the University of California, Irvine,
and maintains relationships with several distinguished
troupes.

1931 – Deloreese Patricia Early is born in Detroit, Michigan. She
will become a singer known as Della Reese. As a teen-ager,
she will tour with gospel great Mahalia Jackson and, at
the age of 18, will form the Meditation Singers and become
the first performer to take gospel music to the casinos of
Las Vegas. She will become the first African American
female to host a daytime television talk show (1969-70)
and will appear in numerous television series, including
“Sanford and Son,” “The A-Team” and, on the CBS Television
Network, “Crazy Like a Fox” and “Picket Fences.” She will
also star as a series regular in “Charlie & Company” and
“The Royal Family”, both on the CBS Network. In September,
1994, she became a regular on the award winning show,
“Touched By An Angel.”

1957 – Althea Gibson becomes the first African American tennis
player to win a Wimbledon singles title, defeating fellow
American Darlene Hard 6-3, 6-2. She will also team up
with Darlene Hard to win the doubles championship.

1964 – Malawi (then Nyasaland) gains independence from Great
Britain.

1966 – Malawi becomes a republic.

1967 – The Biafran War erupts as Nigerian troops invade. The war
will last more than two years, claiming some 600,000
lives.

1971 – Louis Armstrong joins the ancestors in Corona, Queens, in
New York City. Armstrong had been one of the most popular
and influential jazz musicians since his 1929 hit “Ain’t
Misbehavin” and had enjoyed an immensely successful
performing and recording career.

1975 – The Comoros Islands declare independence from France. The
deputies of Mayotte refuse, and thus that island nation
remains under French control. The official languages in
Comoros are Arabic and French, but the vernacular is a
Comorian variant of Swahili. It is an island nation
located in the Indian Ocean near Madagascar approximately
250 miles off the coast of Africa.

1984 – Michael Jackson and his brothers start their “Victory Tour”
in Kansas City, Missouri’s Arrowhead Stadium. The tour
turns out to be a victory for the Jacksons when the
nationwide concert tour concludes months later.

1990 – Jesse Owens is honored on a stamp issued by the U.S. Postal
Service. Owens was a four-time Olympic gold medal winner
in the 1936 Summer Games in Berlin.

Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Rene’ A. Perry.

June 21, 2013 KRLemmons African American History

June 20 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – June 20 *

1858 – Charles Waddell Chestnutt is born in Cleveland, Ohio. He
will at one time maintain four careers simultaneously –
stenographer, lawyer, author, and lecturer. He will also
serve three years as principal of the Fayetteville State
Colored Normal School in North Carolina. His most famous
literary works will be a biography of Frederick Douglass
and the short story collection “The Conjure Woman”. In
1928, he will receive the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal for his
literacy accomplishments. He will join the ancestors on
November 15, 1932.

1871 – Ku Klux Klan trials begin in federal court in Oxford,
Mississippi. Many whites, including doctors, lawyers,
ministers and college professors, are arrested and jailed
in the anti-Klan campaign. Of the 930 indicted in
Mississippi, 243 will be tried and found guilty. Some 1180
are indicted in South Carolina and 1849 are indicted in
North Carolina.

1911 – The National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People is incorporated in New York City. It had been
founded on February 12, 1909.

1926 – Mordecai W. Johnson becomes the first African American
president of Howard University.

1929 – “Hot Chocolates” premieres at the Hudson Theatre in New
York City. With music by Fats Waller and lyrics by Andy
Razaf, the musical will introduce the songs “Ain’t
Misbehaving” and “Black and Blue”.

1936 – Jesse Owens of the United States sets the 100 meter record
at 10.2 seconds.

1943 – Thirty-four persons are killed in race riots in Detroit,
Michigan. Federal troops are called in to control the
violence, which stems from African Americans’ frustration
over exclusion from civilian defense jobs.

1946 – Andre’ Watts is born in Nuremburg, Germany. He will
make his debut as a concert pianist at age nine, have his
New York Philharmonic debut in 1963, and become a world-
famous classical pianist. In 2004 he will join the faculty
at Indiana University, where he will hold the Jack I. and
Dora B. Hamlin Endowed Chair in The Jacob School of Music.

1949 – Lionel Ritchie is born in Tuskegee, Alabama. He will be
one of the most successful singers/songwriters in
contemporary popular music, known for his efforts in Pop,
Rhythm & Blues, and country music. Once a member of the
Commodores, Richie will establish a solo career, win
Grammys in 1982 and 1984, and be a featured performer at
the closing ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in
Los Angeles.

1950 – Willie Mays graduates from high school and immediately
signs with the New York Giants for a $6,000 bonus. ‘The
Say Hey Kid’ would play most of his career for the Giants
— in both New York and San Francisco — becoming a
baseball legend. As his career comes to a close, Mays
will be traded to the New York Mets. Mays, an all-star
center fielder, will be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of
Fame in his first year of eligibility – 1979.

1960 – Harry Belafonte wins an Emmy for his variety special
“Tonight with Harry Belafonte”. It is the first Emmy
awarded to an African American.

1960 – Floyd Patterson wins back the world heavyweight title by
knocking out Ingemar Johanson of Sweden in round five of
a title bout at the Polo Grounds in New York City.

1967 – Muhammad Ali is convicted in Houston, Texas, in federal
court for violating the Selective Service Act by refusing
induction into the armed services. He is fined $10,000
and sentenced to five years in prison. Ali, an opponent
of the Vietnam War, had refused to report for service on
grounds that he was a Muslim minister. The U.S. Supreme
Court will later overturn his conviction.

1969 – 150,000 people attend the Newport Jazz Festival. Jimi
Hendrix gets $125,000 to appear on the program. This is
the largest paycheck for a single concert appearance at
the time.

1988 – The Supreme Court upholds a law that made it illegal for
private clubs to discriminate against women and minorities.

1987 – Whitney Houston’s album, “Whitney”, debuts on “Billboard”
magazine’s album charts at number one. Houston becomes the
first female to have a LP debut at the top.

1990 – South African Black nationalist Nelson Mandela and his
wife, Winnie, arrive in New York City for a ticker-tape
parade in their honor as they begin an eight-city United
States tour.

1997 – Lawrence Payton, occasional songwriter and member of the
“Four Tops,” joins the ancestors after succumbing to liver
cancer at his Southfield, Michigan home at the age of 59.
In 1953, he joined the Four Aims, which consisted of him,
Levi Stubbs, Renaldo “Obie” Benson and Abdul “Duke” Fakir.
They changed their name to the Four Tops in order to avoid
confusion with the Ames Brothers. In 1956, they signed with
Chess Records and subsequently moved on to the Red Top,
Riverside and Columbia labels. They were part of Billy
Eckstine’s Las Vegas Revue in 1960 and in 1963 were signed
to Motown Records where they were teamed with the
production team of Holland, Dozier & Holland. Their last
label signing was to Arista in 1988. In 1990, they were
inducted into the Rock ‘n” Roll of Fame.

Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Rene’ A. Perry.

June 15, 2013 KRLemmons African American History

June 6 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – June 6 *

1716 – The first slaves arrive in Louisiana.

1779 – Haitian explorer Jean Baptiste-Pointe Du Sable founds the
first permanent settlement at the mouth of a river on the
north bank, that will become Chicago, Illinois.

1831 – The second national Black convention meets in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. There are fifteen delegates from five
states.

1869 – Dillard University is chartered in New Orleans, Louisiana.

1934 – Roy Innis is born in the U.S. Virgin Islands and will be
raised in New York City. He will become a civil rights
activist and will join the Harlem chapter of CORE
(Congress of Racial Equality) in 1963. He will work with
the organization over the next 35 years in many capacities
including chairman.

1935 – Jesse Owens is elected Captain of the 1936 track team at
Ohio State University. He is the first African American to
hold such position on any Ohio State Team.

1935 – Robert Cornelius “Bobby” Mitchell is born in Hot Springs,
Arkansas. He will become a professional football player
starting as an eighth round draft selection by the
Cleveland Browns in 1958. He will play in four Pro Bowls
(one with Cleveland and three with Washington) over his
11-year playing career and is considered one of the NFL’s
all-time great multi-purpose players. When he is traded to
the Washington franchise in 1962, he becomes the first
African American to play for the team. He will become an
inductee to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1983. He will
be a prominent part of the Washington Redskins
organization for over 41 years until he retires after the
2002-2003 season.

1936 – Levi Stubbless is born in Detroit, Michigan. He will become
a rhythm and blues singer better known as Levi Stubbs. He
will be a member of the group, “The Aims.” The group
will start as a backup group for Levi’s cousin, Jackie
Wilson. The group will change their name to “The Four
Tops” in 1956, to avoid confusion with a band. Berry Gordy
will sign the group in 1963 and launch their first hit,
“Baby, I Need Your Loving.” The group will stay together
over forty years, longer than any other popular group,
with the original personnel intact. He will join the
ancestors on October 17, 2008.

1939 – Marion Wright (later Edelman) is born in Bennettsville,
South Carolina. In addition to becoming the first African
American woman admitted to the bar in Mississippi, she
will direct the NAACP’s Legal Defense and Education Fund
in New York and Mississippi and will found the Children’s
Defense Fund in 1973.

1939 – Gary Levone Anderson is born in Jacksonville, Florida. He
will be raised in Norfolk, Virginia where he will become
a singer as a teenager, with a group called The Turks. He
will solo as Gary “U.S.” Bonds in 1960 recording the hit
“New Orleans.” His name will be inspired by a poster in a
Norfolk shop urging Americans to “Carry U. S. Bonds.” In
1961 when Bonds records his version of a local group’s
song, “A Night with Daddy G.,” it will be re-titled
“Quarter to Three” and will be a huge hit. He will record
three additional hits in the next year. After a twenty
year decline in his career, he will make a comeback after
his fan, Bruce Springsteen, begins to use “Quarter to
Three” as his encore.

1944 – The 320th Negro Anti-Aircraft Barrage Balloon Battalion
assists in the D-Day invasion in Normandy, France.

1944 – Tommie Smith is born in Clarksville, Texas. He will become
a track star (sprinter), and Olympic athlete/runner. He
will win the Olympic Gold medal in the 200 meters in the
1968 Olympics. It will be, on the winners platform, that he
and John Carlos will raise clinched fists as the national
anthem is played. He will be inducted into the National
Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1978.

1947 – Harrison Branch is born in New York City. A student at the
San Francisco Art Institute and Yale University School of
Art, he will become a professor of art and photographer
whose works will be exhibited and collected in the U.S.
and in Europe and will appear in the landmark photography
book, “An Illustrated Bio-Bibliography of Black
Photographers,” 1940-1988, edited by Deborah Wills Ryan.

1966 – James Meredith is wounded by a white sniper, as he walked
along U.S. Highway 51 near Hernando, Mississippi, on the
second day of the Memphis, Tennessee to Jackson,
Mississippi, voter registration march. Meanwhile,
Stokely Carmichael, using his newly adopted name of Kwame’
Toure, launches the Black Power movement. Toure will say
that the use of the term is not anti-white, but a phrase
to denote a political strategy.

1973 – Barry White is awarded a gold record for “I’m Gonna Love
You Just a Little More Baby”. It is his first hit and his
first of five, number one, million sellers. White will
begin recording in 1960. He will form the group, Love
Unlimited, in 1969 and marry one of the group’s singers,
Glodean James. He will also form the 40-piece Love
Unlimited Orchestra which will have the number one hit,
“Love’s Theme.” He will join the ancestors on July 4,
2003 from complications of high blood pressure and kidney
disease.

1977 – Joseph Lawson Howze is installed as bishop of the Roman
Catholic diocese of Biloxi, Mississippi. He becomes the
first African American to head a U.S. diocese in the
Catholic Church in the twentieth century.

Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Rene’ A. Perry.

May 8, 2013 KRLemmons African American History

May 5 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – May 5 *

1857 – The Dred Scott decision, in the famous U.S. Supreme Court
case, declares that no black–free or slave–could claim
United States citizenship, therefore could not sue. It
also stated that Congress could not prohibit slavery in
United States territories. The ruling will arouse angry
resentment in the North and will lead the nation a step
closer to civil war. It also will influence the
introduction and passage of the 14th Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution after the Civil War (1861-1865). The
amendment, adopted in 1868, will extend citizenship to
former slaves and give them full civil rights.

1865 – Adam Clayton Powell, Sr. is born in a log cabin in Soak
Creek, Virginia. He will be a social and religious leader
at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, after becoming the
pastor in 1908. Under his leadership, he will expand the
role of the church in the community and increase its
membership. When he retires in 1937, Abyssinian Baptist
Church will be the largest Protestant church in the United
States. He will be succeeded in the pulpit by his son,
Adam CLayton Powell, Jr., who will become a future
congressman.

1883 – Josiah Henson joins the ancestors in Dawn, Ontario, Canada
at the age of 93. He had escaped slavery in Maryland and
settled in Canada. He had been part of the creation of a
settlement for fugitive slaves near Dawn, Ontario.

1905 – Robert Sengstacke Abbott founds the Chicago Defender,
calling it “The World’s Greatest Weekly.”

1919 – The NAACP awards the Spingarn Medal to William Stanley
Braithwaite. Braithwaite’s publication of essays and verse
in notable mainstream magazines and editorial efforts on
three books of verse and poetry anthologies had earned him
wide acclaim among African Americans and whites.

1931 – Edwin A. Harleston joins the ancestors in Charleston, South
Carolina. One of the most popular and influential African
American painters of the day, his work will be exhibited at
the Harmon Foundation, the Gallery of Art in Washington, DC,
and in the exhibit “Two Centuries of Black American Art.”

1935 – Jesse Owens, of the United States, sets the long jump record
at 26′ 8″.

1943 – Maximiliano Gomez Horatio is born in San Pedro de Macoris,
Dominican Republic. After working in the sugar refineries
in his home area, be will become a politician, leading the
Dominican Popular Movement. He believed that the Dominican
Republic should be guided by its own historical and social
environment, not on any European model. He will participate
in an insurrection that is ended by a U.S. invasion in 1965.
He will later be imprisoned and after his release, he will
go into exile. He will join the ancestors under suspicious
circumstances in Brussels, Belgium, in 1971.

1965 – Edgar Austin Mittelholzer joins the ancestors in Farnham,
Surrey, England, after committing suicide at the age of 55.
He had been the first author from the Carribean to earn his
living as a writer. He was considered the father of the
novel in the English-speaking Caribbean.

1969 – Moneta Sleet becomes the first African American to win a
Pulitzer Prize for his photograph of Mrs. Martin Luther
King, Jr. and her daughter at her husband’s funeral.

1971 – A race riot occurs in the Brownsville section of New York
City.

1975 – Hank Aaron surpasses Babe Ruth’s RBI mark. He will finish
his career with 755 home runs and over 2200 RBIs. Both
records will stand for many years. Aaron will be inducted
into Baseball’s Hall of Fame on August 1, 1982.

1977 – The Afro-American Historical and Genealogy Society is
founded in Washington, DC. The society’s mission is to
encourage scholarly research in African American genealogy.

1988 – Eugene Antonio Marino, is installed as the archbishop of
Atlanta, becoming the first African American Roman Catholic
archbishop in the United States.

2003 – Walter Sisulu, a major player in the fight against apartheid
in South Africa with Nelson Mandela, joins the ancestors at
the age of 90 after a long illness.

Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Rene’ A. Perry.

April 4, 2013 KRLemmons African American History